I have always loved you
by The Italian
Summary: This is what I think should have happened after Aang defeated Ozai and took his bending. Please read and review
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: What's up guys this is The Italian here and I got a brand new story for you guys. Keep in my mind this is my first ATLA fan fiction but I have a couple legend of korra ones so go check those stories out of you want. So to basicly say what was said in the summary this is what I think should have happened after Aang defeated Ozai.

"Aghh what did you do to me" Ozai screamed and panted for air while the Avatar did the same backing away from the fire lord. Ozai was not standing though Aang had made earth chains forcing Ozai to stay on the ground not being able to move. Aang cought his breath and looked back down at the now powerless fire lord.

"I took away your bending for good" Aang stated "You can no longer cause anyone pain". Aang watched as Ozai put his head down in shame because of his loss to the Avatar. Aang looked up to see one of the war balloons from the fire lords fleet and prepared to fight the guards that came out. Aang was about to bend some earth discs to shoot at the balloon but he had the sharpest pain in his chest coming from his heart. He clenched his chest and fell onto his knees the pain was unbearable and it forced him to hold his eyes shut.

"Is there something wrong Avatar?" Aang opened his eyes and saw the Ozai smiling at him evilly knowing that there was some sort of pain with the Avatar."You better hurry and get well before my guards get here and dispose of you" the fire lord said mocking Aang.

Aang got off of his knees because the balloon had landed right next to him and the fire lord. The ramp came down from the side of the balloon and Aang wasted no Time getting in front of the ramp waiting for any guards. After a minute of waiting nothing was happening and Aang was getting suspicious 'where are all of the guards' 'why isn't anyone coming out' Aang was thinking to himself the whole time.

Aang waited another couple of minutes and by then he was frustrated until finally "Whoever you are come out now and face me" Aang yelled in a serious tone "I am through playing games". Aang started to hear footsteps and took a defensive stance waiting for who ever was going to walk off of the that ramp. The footsteps got closer and closer until three figures walked around the corner and started to make their way off of the ramp. When Aang saw them he immediately put his hands down because he knew the three people.

It was Sokka, Suki and Toph. Suki and Toph both had one of Sokkas arm around their shoulders while Sokka was hopping on his right leg and holding his left one in the air obviously stating that he had hurt his left leg. Suki and Sokka smiled when they saw Aang.

"Aang buddy it's good to see you" Sokka said slapping him on the back. That caused Aang to stumble and almost fall backwards but luckily a stone pillar came up from behind and saved him from falling.

"Easy there snoozles Aang is still tired from fighting the fire lord" Toph said.

Suki noticed the fire lord strapped to the ground by earth restraints and let go of Sokkas arm letting him stand up by himself from his sword case. Suki walked over to the fire lord whose head was down and looked at him.

"Did you know finish the job?" Suki asked pointing her finger at the fire lord. Suki didn't notice him pick his head up."No I'm not dead" the fire lord said with a very angry tone in his voice.

"No I couldn't bring myself to kill him but I took his bending away, forever". All three of them stared at Aang in shock at what they just heard.'There is no way anyone can take a persons bending away forever right?' Sokka asked himself but then he remembered that he is the Avatar and crazy stuff like that happens all the time.

"Who taught you how to do that?" Suki asked also still in shock at what Aang had just told him.

Aang took a deep breath because he knew that he had to tell them the whole story. He began by telling them how when he left the island he slept walked to an abandoned island. After that he said he talked to his past lives saying that he didn't want to kill the fire lord and asked if there was another way to stop him. Aang then told them that his past lives had nothing to tell him besides that he had to kill the fire lord. Fortunately for Aang the island was a giant turtle lion and when he talked to him the wise animal showed him how to energy end which could take people's bending away forever.

As Aang finished his story he saw the expressions on all of his friends face and it kind of wanted to make him laugh."You go on the craziest adventures by yourself twinkle toes" Toph said breaking the silence between her friends

"Alright now we have to get to the rendezvous point" Sokka said reminding his friends. Aang was confused "what rendezvous spot?" he asked.

"Oh yeah that's right you ran off before we made a plan" Suki said walking back over to her friends "Katara and Zuko went to the fire nation and fight Azula we are supposed to meet them there".

"wha- what?" Aang said incredibly shocked "You let Katara and Zuko go to the fire nation all by themselves". Aangs mind was racing with thoughts 'What if Zuko gets hurt or worse Katara' Aang couldn't stand the thought of Katara getting hurt because he had feelings for her and wanted to always be with her.

"Don't worry Aang if I know my sister and that crazy firebender they will be fine" Sokka said trying to calm down the young airbender.

"Come on Aang we are going to go meet up with them" Sokka said walking towards the ramp "oh and Toph don't forget the loser lord over there" Sokka said laughing and wiping away a tear from his laughter.

Aang was watched as Toph walked over to Ozai and bended the restraints away to let him stand up. Toph quickly got more earth and used them as handcuffs around the ex fire lords wrist. Suki and Sokka was walking up the ramp with Toph on their tale. Aang was the last one to walk, he was looking out over the horizon knowing that this war is finally over. But for some reason he wasn't feeling good and started to get those sharp pains in his chest again. He quickly clenched his chest and felt like his heart was going to explode.

Aang knew something bad was going to happen and started to walk after his friends. Aang tried to warn them of his pains but every time he tried to speak nothing came out so he hoped that one of them would turn around and notice.

Suki and Sokka were talking about the battle they just survived when Toph who was in front of them stopped. They both noticed this "Toph is there something wrong?" Suki asked cautiously. Toph felt someone's heartbeat out of place. First she went to Sokkas and nothing was out of the ordinary. Then she felt Suki's heartbeat and it was a little fast but that's because of her worried state. Finally it was onto Aang she felt his heartbeat and it wasn't good Toph felt his heart slowing down and close to stopping.

"There is something wrong with Aangs heartbeat" Toph said quickly. Sokka and Suki turned around immediately.

Aang was walking towards the ramp he felt his eyes get heavy and his heart was causing ten times the pain it originally did. Aang looked up to see Sokka and Suki looking at Aang with a frown on their face.

"Plea- please- tell Katara I -" Aang couldn't get his sentence out before he fell to the ground and dropped his airbender necklace. Suki opened her eyes in shock and let go of Sokka running towards the fallen airbender. Suki knelt down to the airbender he had fallen on his stomach and by the time she picked up his necklace Sokka made his way next to her girlfriend and also got on his good knee.

"What's wrong with him?" Suki asked looking for injuries that could have caused this but found nothing that would cause Aang to drop to the floor unconscious.

Sokka was also checking Aangs body and had no luck finding any major injuries that would cause him to do this. They flipped Aang over onto his back and saw a blank expression. Sokka moved his hand towards Aangs neck to check his pulse.

"Do you feel any pulse?" Suki asked scared to know the answer from Sokka.

Sokka moved his fingers around until finally he felt a pulse but it was the weakest and most faint pulse Sokka has ever felt before. Sokka removed his hand from Aangs neck and looked up at Suki."He is alive but his pulse is really weak" Sokka said with concern in his tone "we need to get him to Katara so she can heal him".

Suki nodded in agreement and they both picked up Aang and carried him up the ramp when Sokka saw it.

It was two war balloons that had survived the fleet attack. Sokka gasped in shock and looked at Suki. They both knew without saying that they need to hurry and get to the fire nation.

The two had reached a room that was right next to the bridge. They quickly put down Aang and covered him in a blanket and Sokka practically ran out of the room towards the bridge right down the hall. Suki was right behind him but she stopped and looked back at Aang "Don't worry Aang we will get you to Katara and everything will be alright" Suki said closing the door behind her and ran after her boyfriend easily catching up to him because of his still broken leg. Suki kicked open the door of the bridge while Sokka was right behind her following. They saw Toph sitting on a chair playing with her meteor space bracelet.

"Is everything alright with Aang" Toph said feeling the two run into the room.

"Yes he is fine but they are two fire nation war balloons coming after us" Sokka said running towards the start up button "We have to get him to my sister so she can figure out what's wrong with him and heal him".

"But we can't just go into the fire nation with them following us Katara and Zuko will just think that we are the enemy" Toph said noticing that whole in his plan.

"That's true but how do we warn them before we get there" Sokka asked himself finally getting the balloon off of the ground and into the air towards the fire nation.

Everyone was thinking of a way until "Oh I know we can send a messenger hawk to Zuko and tell them our problem" Suki said looking at her boyfriend for his approval.

"That will work, but who will write the letter" Sokka said.

"I will gladly do it while ou steer the ship" Suki said taking out a piece of paper and ink. Sokka nodded his head in agreement and he took control of the wheel while Suki went to the message center and started to write the letter. About ten minutes later she finished and let the paper dry for 5 minutes before taking out a hawk and putting the paper in its pouch. Suki whispered Zuko and his position to the hawk and the hawk immediately flew off of Sukis arm into the mid day sky.

Suki ran back up to the bridge to see just Sokka in it."Where is Toph?" Suki asked curiously. Sokka turned around from the wheel and said "she is our cannon right now defending our balloon from any fire whip or blast".

Suki let out a sigh of relief and stress and Sokka immediately realized that form of sigh."What's wrong beautiful?" Sokka asked Suki putting his arm around her body and she rested his hand on her shoulder.

Suki took a deep breath and said "I hope Aang makes it, Katara has told me how much she loves him and it would destroy her of Aang died tonight". Sokkas arm tightened around Suki's side and pulled her in closer.

"Don't worry about that if I know Aang he will survive this and we can all have a laugh about it later" Sokka said trying to lighten her mood and to his pleasure it did.

"Thank you Sokka you always know how to make me fell better".

"Yes it seems that I do, but I hope that they get our message before we get there because they might shoot us down if they see three war balloons chasing them". Sokka said placing a kiss in her temple.

"I love you so much Sokka" Suki said kissing him passionately on his lips.

"And I love you to Suki".

Authors note: alright that's the end of the first chapter I hope you enjoyed it and please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: Alright here is chapter 2 of this story. I hope you all enjoy and as always I will see you in my next story bye bye.**

"Katara can you sit still for a minute you're making me feel woozy" Zuko said to the water bender who was franticly pacing back an forth waiting for their friends to arrive from the battle. Katara stopped her pacing to look at Zuko with her ice blue eyes. Zuko was familiar with that glare the last time he saw it was when Katara threatened him at the west air temple. Katara told Zuko that if he touched Aang at all Katara wouldn't hold back and would probably kill him. Zuko never wanted to see those eyes as long as he lived because it sent terrible shivers down his spine and sent bad memories to himself.

"Sit still?" Katara yelled at the fire bender who was sitting down on the ground holding his chest where Azula hit him with the lightning bolt "How can you tell me to sit down when our friends are out there possibly hurt and worse of all". Katara couldn't continue because she had tears running down her face.

Despite his injuries Zuko stood up and trudged over to her friend who was crying freely into her hands. "Aang" Zuko said which immediately got Katara's attention. She faced the fire bender who was smiling at her but she got angry.

"Zuko what are you doing you shouldn't be standing" Katara yelled and walked Zuko over to a bench and placed him down. Even though she was helping Zuko she couldn't take her mind off of Aang. He ran away before they made the plan of attack and Katara was worrying if he came back and if he did was he alright. Katara sat down next to the prince and sighed "Yes Aang I'm just worried if he survived the fight with your father".

Zuko layed back on the bench and just realized that. Apart from fighting his crazy sister Azula and getting shot in the chest with a rather large lightning bolt Zuko almost forgot that Aang ran away before the attack begun and they had no idea if he came back and fought the fire lord. Zuko put a hand on the shoulder of Katara "Don't worry Katara I'm sure he fought the fire lord. Its just like you said before we fought my sister _He has to come back"_.

Katara thought Zuko was right she knows that Aang would never let her down. That is what Katara loved how about Aang he is brave, courageous, strong and very handsome. Korra was planning on telling Aang her true feelings when he got back from wherever he was and also yelling at him for running away the week before the comet.

Zuko and Katara sat on the bench for hours waiting for their friends to arrive. Katara healed her friend because the large lightning bolt did severe damage to his body and blocked some places where his chi flowed. Eventually the sun started to fall in the sky and Zuko fell asleep trying to gain some energy. Katara didn't sleep though because she wanted to be awake when her brother, friends and Aang arrived to the royal fire plaza.

Katara looked over at her friend and decided that he needed to rest in his bed tonight. Katara stood up from the bench and picked up Zuko trying not to wake him up. She slung his arm around her shoulder and hauled him towards the bedroom. Katara walked through the empty halls of the palace because most of the army was sent onto the war balloons to help the fire lord burn down the earth kingdom.

It took a few minutes but Katara got Zuko to his bed and immediately placed him on his back with his head on the two pillows. Katara took the two blankets at the end of his bed and placed it on top of Zuko. Katara then left his room and headed back outside to sit on the bench. Before she could leave the hallway she heard someone running Katara turned around to see one of the fire sages run towards Zuko's door and start to knock on it. Katara turned around "Hey you stop knocking prince Zuko is asleep whatever it is I'm sure it can wait until morning" Katara yelled at the man and continued to walk outside.

"But its a letter from a girl named Suki" the fire sage yelled at the water bender. Katara immediately stopped in her tracks and looked back at the sage like he had two heads. "Did you just say Suki?" Katara barely got those words out of her mouth and watched as the sage nodded yes.

Katara basically ran towards the sage and grabbed the message out of his hands. Katara tore open the envelope holding the message and started to read.

_To Zuko or Katara_

_If you are reading this then congratulations on beating Azula. Me, Sokka and Toph took out the vast amounts of war balloons in the fire lord's fleet before he could burn down the forest's in the earth kingdom. Unfortunately Sokka lost his meteor sword and also broke his left leg saving me and Toph from fire bender soldiers. The good news is Aang showed up and faced the fire lord and he defeated him. The weird thing is Aang didn't kill the fire lord he took his bending away permanently._

_The bad news is when we were walking back onto one of the war balloons that we stole to get to the fire nation. Aang fell unconscious. We looked all over his body and saw multiple cuts and bruises but nothing that would make him fall unconscious. Also two of the war balloons that survived are chasing us and trying to shoot us down. I am sending this message to you to tell you when we arrive do not shoot down the first balloon but the two behind it._

_From Suki._

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked finally coming to. He was dizzy from getting out of his bed so fast.

Katara handed him the message and Zuko immediately started to read it. Katara watched as his features went from smiling at the first page and when he flipped that paper over his smile went to a very large frown. When he finished he looked back at Katara very sadly but Katara was staring at the ground silently with little tears falling off of her face and landing on the carpet below.

"Katara I have to go talk to the anti air guards you go back to the bench we were on before and we can plan for the arrival of Aang" Zuko said placing a hand on the shoulder of the young water bender girl. Katara looked up and nodded showing she agreed to what he said and Zuko ran out of the room despite his wound towards the guard tower.

Katara slowly walked out of the room and eventually got to the bench besides the small pond filled with turtle ducks.

Zuko got to the last security tower and talked with several guards telling them the situation. Each guard nodded knowing that Zuko was now in charge of the nation.

"uh sir you have a visitor" The captain said looking at the person behind him.

Without looking behind him Zuko ordered "Go away I can not talk we have a situation".

"Is that any way to treat your ex girlfriend" a female voice said to Zuko.

Zuko turned around to see his ex girlfriend Mai "Mai? How did you get here".

Mai walked up towards Zuko and looked at all the guards behind him "Can you give us some privacy?" Mai asked in the same tone she always speaks in. Zuko watched as the guards bowed and walked out the door Mai came in and shut the door behind them.

Mai walked closer to Zuko and was giving him a death stare. Zuko sighed "I'm so sorry about what I did to you but I-"

Zuko couldn't finish because Mai crashed her lips against Zuko's. Zuko was utterly confused but he didn't care and he leaned into the kiss the warmness of her lips were sending chills down his spine. Zuko wrapped his arms around Mai's hips to deepen it and Mai did the same wrapping her arms around Zuko's neck. Mai leaned her body against Zuko's chest causing him to break the kiss and hiss in pain sending him backwards into the wall clutching his chest. Mai immediately ran to his aid.

"Zuko what's wrong?" Mai asked in a worried tone.

Zuko couldn't say a word he only clutched his chest. Mai noticed this and pulled his shirt up to reveal the large scar that covered his whole chest. Mai gasped in shock and horror and her eyes turned to sorrow.

"Who did this to you Zuko?". Zuko saw the hurt in Mai's eyes and used the rest of his energy to say "Azula shot me with a lightning bolt".

Mai continued to look at the mark "I'm going to kill her when I see her" Mai said in a threatening tone.

"It's alright I already arrested her but the big question is how did you get here and why did you kiss me I thought you hated me" Zuko asked putting his shirt down.

Mai told Zuko how her uncle got her out of jail a week ago and how she understood why Zuko had to leave her for the Avatar and she forgave him. Zuko couldn't believe how easy that was to apologize to Mai and get her back, but hey Zuko wasn't going to complain about it.

"Anyway why are you here in the guard tower" Mai asked.

Zuko let out a deep breath and then told her the whole story. How he and Katara went to battle Azula while the other three and the Avatar went to attack the fleet and Ozai. Zuko then told her how they got a message from his friends saying that they defeated Ozai and took his bending away permanently.

Mai was shocked at what she just heard but waited for Zuko to finish before she said anything.

Zuko then went on how Aang fell unconscious after the battle and they escaped on one of the war balloons while being chased by two other balloons trying to shoot them down.

"Alright well what were the orders you gave the men?" Mai asked.

"I told them to shoot down the two balloons trailing the first one" Zuko said starting to walk out of the tower. Mai noticed this and was shocked "Where are you going?".

Zuko turned around to address her girlfriend "I'm going to go see Katara at the turtle duck pond if you would like to join me".

Mai thought for a moment "mmm Katara isn't that the water tribe girl who has feelings for the Avatar?".

Zuko stopped for a moment after exiting the security building and waited for Mai to catch up. "Yes it is and she is not doing so good with this news so lets get back and cheer her up" Zuko said starting to walk again.

Mai caught up with Zuko and they intertwined their fingers and giving each other a quick kiss on the lips before walking to the turtle duck pond.

**Authors note: Alright I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always I will see you, in the next chapter bye bye. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys it's The Italian here with a chapter update. Anyway click the link in the description above for more stories that I've done and as always I will see you in the next video bye.**

_BOOM!_

Sokka looked out the window to see another fire blast had hit the side of the balloon. He also saw an earth disc fly back to the source of the attack and make contact with one of the fire benders on the other balloon causing him to fall of the balloon and fly down to his death. They were close to the royal palace. Sokka knew because they passed the gates of Azulon two hours ago and he knew from the day of black sun invasion that it only takes four hours to get to the capital from the gates. Sokka looked back out the window watching his girlfriend and friend.

Suki was helping by putting cover up for Toph because she couldn't really feel when the attack was coming at her so Suki had to yell at her when to take cover.

Sokka watched his girlfriend and he knew that she needed help. He took his sword holder and shoved it into the wheel making it stay in its spot. When Sokka knew it would stay he hobbled out of the bridge and went as fast as he could until he reached the door to the outside walkways.

He looked to the left and saw that the two girls were still doing the same thing. There were at least a dozen imperial fire benders on both of the balloons. It didn't matter how many there were because Toph had already shot down a dozen.

Sokka looked over to the balloons and noticed that the fire bender at the end of the railway was just watching not shooting. 'What's up with that guy' Sokka thought to himself. Sokka traced where his eyes were looking and it traced to Suki.

He looked back at the fire bender soldier and saw he was looking at him now. Sokka saw an evil smile come to his face and a single fire blast was sent at Suki. She wasn't looking because she was picking up more cover for Toph.

Sokka didn't care for the pain in his leg because of the adrenaline pumping in his body. His whole body was focused on one thing and that was protecting his love.

"Suki!" Sokka yelled out and she turned around and faced her boyfriend. She noticed he was running towards her pretty fast despite his broken leg. She saw an orange tint out of the corner of her eye. Suki turned to see the large fire ball heading towards her.

She couldn't move. She wanted to move but her feet wouldn't let her. She closed her eyes awaiting the impact.

Sokka kept running and saw her eyes close. He got to her and didn't have a lot of time. He pushed Suki out of the way making her eyes open again.

Sokka looked at the fire ball and felt the pain immensely as it struck his chest sending him flying backwards into the side of the balloon.

Suki felt her heart shatter as she got up quickly and ran to Sokka. She knelt down next to him and saw his shirt where the fire struck was burnt off. There was also a lot of skin that was burnt off letting a massive amount of blood come off of his chest. Suki looked up too Sokka's eyes and saw they were closed.

But worst of all his chest wasn't moving up and down. Suki felt for a pulse but didn't get anything as tears came to her eyes. "No Sokka please don't be dead I need you" Suki said and put her head on his chest.

Toph heard her friend crying and expanded her seeing with her feet and found that she was laying on top of a motionless Sokka. Toph jumped from her spot to in front of Suki creating a loud noise and getting her friends attention.

"Toph" Suki said "I need you to make a metal wall to protect me and Sokka".

"Alright but stand back". Toph thrusted her hands into the metal walkway and pulled the metal off of its hinges and put the large wall in front of her friends. Toph heard the sound of the fire bouncing off of the wall and walked towards Suki who was crying ferociously over the body of Sokka.

Toph kneeled down next to Suki and put a hand on her shoulder. Suki felt the hand on her shoulder and took her head and arms off of Sokka and wrapped her arms around Toph and put her head on Toph's shoulder.

Toph was never a big fan of being touched but she couldn't reject her after what happened. Suki cried into her friends shoulder's knowing that the love of her life had saved her but gave his up. Suki knew that if she could replay time she would have gotten out of the way.

"It's all my fault he is gone" Suki cried out "If I just moved quickly I could have pre vented him from dying". Toph patted Suki's back and was about to say something when she felt a new heartbeat. Toph expanded her hearing and saw that Sokka's heart was beating.

"Suki I can feel Sokka's heartbeat he is alive" Toph said happily. Suki turned around and saw Sokka's eyes open with a smile on his face. She jumped off of Toph and onto the lap of her boyfriend giving him a hug never wanting to let go. Suki pulled back from the embrace of Sokka and leaned into kiss him. Their lips connected and the kissed each other passionately just enjoying the embrace of each other. But after a little while it turned a little ferocious. Suki was kissing him hard as Sokka used his strength to wrap his arms around her waist to deepen the kiss.

They were getting into it and Sokka reached down. "Ugh just because I am blind doesn't mean I can't hear what you guys are doing" Toph said with bile threatening to come up. The couple pulled apart and an incredibly large blush came to Suki's face. "Sorry Toph I kind of forgot you were there" Suki said scratching the back of her head getting a chuckle from Sokka.

Sokka wiped the tears coming out of his eyes. He looked back to his girlfriend and saw her staring down at his chest. A frown came to Sokka's face as he looked down at his chest and saw the damage the fire blast did to him. He saw the skin that was hanging off of his body with the blood and dried blood all over his body.

"Sokka that doesn't look good" Suki said tearing slightly. Sokka opened his arms and motioned for Suki. She smiled and fell into his arms as she lay her head in the crook of his neck planting kisses on it. "I will be fine Suki" Sokka whispered into her ears "I'm sure Katara can heal me when we get to the palace".

Suki smiled when she heard that and she stood up. "Alright Mr. Tough guy" Suki said holding out her hand for Sokka "Let's get you back inside before more fire benders show up". Sokka smiled as he grabbed her girlfriend's hand. He stumbled a little bit but quickly gained his balance.

Toph brought a part of the wall down and Suki peeked out of the whole. She looked around the two ship and didn't see any fire benders standing on the walkways. "Clear" Suki said to Toph and she quickly put the rest of the wall down and re connected it to the walkway. Toph led the way back inside as Suki and Sokka were a little behind talking.

Sokka started to feel light headed as he looked down to his chest and saw the large amount of blood and remembered what was going to happen. Sokka looked back up at Suki and saw her stopped and a worried expression on her face. "Sokka what's wrong" she asked her boyfriend who was now stumbling around the walkway and landed on the rails. Suki came to his side and he motioned to come closer to her. She moved closer to his face and he whispered into her ear "Blood loss" and Sokka collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Suki dropped to her knee and forced Sokka's unconscious body onto his back. She knew what he meant when he said blood loss. She knew that he was probably going to pass out from blood loss. Suki just hoped that he did it inside the balloon because she had to carry his body to his room now.

Suki saw the metal walkway around her get taken off of its hinges and formed into a stretcher. She looked back to see Toph moving her hands and the stretcher landed right next to her and Sokka. "Thank you Toph" Suki said to her friend.

Toph showed a smile which was rare "Anything to help out". Suki smiled back and lifted her boyfriend up a little and placed him on the stretcher. When Sokka was on the stretcher Toph lifted the stretcher with her metal bending and they walked into the door of the air balloon.

Toph walked his friend into the same room Aang was in. They both saw that Aang was still unconscious which made them worried. There was an empty bed right across from Aang so Toph lowered the stretcher onto the empty bed and took the metal out from beneath Sokka.

"Toph I need to go steer the ship" Suki said looking at her boyfriend "But I want you to stay here and protect Sokka and Aang just in case".

Toph nodded "Don't worry no one is going to touch either of them" she said pounding her fist into her palm. Suki smiled at her friend and ran to the bridge. When she got there she found out how the air balloon stayed its course with no one driving. She pulled out Sokka's sword holder and regained control of the air ship.

Suki looked hard through the glass and she saw the royal palace a few miles away. She hoped that they got the message and knew not to shoot them down. Suki felt the balloon take another fire blast. She lost control for a second as she looked back and saw one of the engines was blown to smithereens the balloon only had one engine left and it wouldn't last long by itself.

All odds were against them but Suki was determined to save his boyfriends life and especially save the life of the Avatar. She knew Katara would never forgive herself if Aang was to die.

**(SWITCH)**

Zuko, his girlfriend Mai and Katara were sitting in one of the anti-air towers waiting for their friends to arrive and shoot down the two balloons if necessary.

Zuko was playing with his firebending while Mai was sitting against him enjoying each other's closeness. Katara noticed this and was a little jealous she always wanted someone to hold her like that. Get embraced by him and to be so warm and caring. Katara felt like Aang could be that person and she wasn't going to let him die of his wounds. She was going to take care of him and tell him her feelings and she just hoped that he felt the same way about her.

The door to the stair way slammed open immediately getting the attention of the trio. They all looked to the door to see the General of the army General Lee with sweat dripping down his head. "Sir" he said bowing to Zuko.

"Yes what is it General Lee" Zuko asked standing up with Mai following him close behind. The general came up from his bow position "We have spotted the three air balloons coming from the gates of Azulon they will be here in about 15 minutes".

"Can you see anything specific about the first air balloon?" Katara asked the general.

"Yes the first balloon is heavily damaged" the general said "The port side engine has been destroyed by a large fire blast while the hull of the ship is heavily damaged. If my calculations are correct the balloon will crash outside the gate due to the lack of both engines". Katara eyes started to water and she ran out of the tower.

Zuko watched her run out and motioned for Mai to go get her. Mai nodded and ran out the door after her. Zuko sighed and pinched his temples "Alright General if that first balloon crashes I want a rescue team ready to save my friends" Zuko said.

The general nodded in response "What do you want us to do with the two ships in the back" he asked. Zuko thought for a second and a response quickly came in his head "Shoot them down and kill the crew" Zuko said getting a shocked look from the general "They are now considered enemies of the nation against me the new Fire Lord".

The general nodded in agreement "I will tell the crew about the traitors and form a team to save the citizens in the first balloon". Zuko nodded at his second in command and watched as he ran to the door and ran down the stairs.

Zuko looked out the window of the tower and saw the three balloons. He saw the multiple explosions around it with the fire coming from both the fire benders and the blown up engine.

"Don't worry you guys you will get here safely and I will protect you".

**A/N: That is the end of chapter three please review it would be great**


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